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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23952430">A New Page</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/WasteTimeandType/pseuds/WasteTimeandType'>WasteTimeandType</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: Legend of Korra</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bolin and Opal fluff, Book 3, Bopal - Freeform, F/M, Fluff, Zaofu, i love me some minor class differences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 01:49:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,093</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23952430</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/WasteTimeandType/pseuds/WasteTimeandType</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Bolin bonds with Opal in Zaofu over books. Or he tries to.</p><p>Book 3 Gap Filler.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bolin/Opal (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>61</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A New Page</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bolin didn’t really like hanging around the courtyard of the Zaofu palace with Korra. He didn’t like being reminded that he couldn’t metalbend, so he avoided the courtyard and Suyin for now. He would maybe practice in his own time, when the Avatar <em>wasn’t</em> there, showing off at being naturally good at the elements and everything.</p>
<p></p><div class="">
<p></p><div class=""><p>Instead walked around the large mansion. Was he meant to be here on his own? Probably not. But he was fairly excited at seeing all of the large, lavish rooms, peeking in on the open ones. No-one had to know, there was no-one here. But he did notice one figure in a room he peered into. He realised it was a library, and that it was Opal sitting on the far side by the window, curled up with cushions, a heavy book resting on her lap.</p></div><div class=""><p><em>Opal</em>. He had only known her for a short time but Bolin was convinced that she was the most lovely person he had ever met. And he was convinced she felt the same way, even saying she liked him better when he wasn’t trying to be more… suave, dashing, <em>handsome</em>. Which was fine by Bolin, in hindsight it made everything easier, being able to be himself. He wished someone had told him that before, that being himself <em>worked.</em> <em>Who knew?</em> </p></div></div><div class="">
  <p>“What you doing?” he asked cheerily as he entered the room, before perching by the window with Opal.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Opal closed the heavy book and looked to Bolin. “Nothing much, just reading. It’s a book by Lialia Ki.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Bolin stared at the thick hard bound book. “Is she good?” he asked.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Umm,” Opal said, and raised her eyebrows but she only smiled, “Yeah, she’s pretty good. This book ‘Sandstorm Dunes’ is considered one of the most complex novels written after the 100 year war. It’s about a fire nation general who falls in love with a local sandbender, but of course it’s difficult for them to be together, and it turns into an epic of romance, betrayal and politics…” Opal trailed off. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Bolin nodded. “Actually, I think I have heard of it.” he said. Sandstorm Dunes. That was one of the books that everyone read if they were smart, he’d heard it mentioned around. “Does it have a happy ending?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Uh, no, not really.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Aw,” Bolin said, then looked over at Opal as he considered what he'd just said. “I probably sounded like a complete idiot just now.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Oh no, it's fine. I don’t think you’re an idiot at all.” Opal said, before she pushed her hair back. “Um, I don’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.” Opal said.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Bolin cocked his head to the side, a smile on his face. “Why would you make me feel uncomfortable?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Well, I’m here in this library reading books I’ve read before because I had such a comfortable childhood,” Opal said, looking sheepish, “and I feel like I’m insulting you. I know you haven’t ever had an opportunity to read these.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Bolin shrugged. “It’s fine.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Really? Because the first time we ate together I basically said that I ate like a queen each night and you had to point out you ate garbage.” She said, stroking her hair nervously.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I didn’t think you’re being mean,” Bolin said, “I just say what I think. I suppose sometimes I shouldn’t, I’m not like Mako. But well, y’know, gotta say something.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Opal smiled. “That’s what I like about you Bolin. You’re very… <em>you</em>.” She said, blushing, and she tucked her hair behind her ears. “I’ve never met anyone else like you before.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Bolin felt a small fluttering in his chest. “Ah, well, that’s me,” he said, smiling, “one of a kind.” Bolin doesn’t try to force the statement as some kind of flirting statement, instead letting the good humour of it all pan out.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Opal smiled again, and stood up and moved to the shelves, taking a book before coming to sit beside Bolin. “This is a good novel by Lialia Ki. <em>Misty Palms Oasis</em>. Similar setting, the desert, but about two families who pass through the Misty Palms, and their interactions with the locals for one week. It’s a lot shorter than her other books. If you want to read it, you can borrow it. Or keep it.” Opal said, before flushing. “Not that I’m saying you have to read it!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Bolin took the book. “Sure! It sounds great.” He said, and went to the first page.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>The desert that spanned the Earth Kingdom was vast and barren, and the gyrating sands dried the skin to a coarse, unfeeling texture. They said that even the strongest man would be steered towards a state of mental aberration amongst the suffocating, stifling heat as they were enveloped by the emptiness that was the vast, sandy landscape that cascaded over the southern Earth Kingdom. </em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Bolin wondered if he had ever finished a book before. Was he meant to know what aberration and gyrate meant? He glanced over to Opal occasionally, who was turning pages regularly, whilst he was still on his first page, and he frowned at the page.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Opal looked up when he glanced up, and glanced at his face, before looking at his book, resting in his hands, one page turned. “Do you not like it?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Oh, it’s kinda… hard,” Bolin admitted, actually feeling a little embarrassed. “I haven’t read many books. I didn’t go to school. Well I did, for a couple of months. Mako made me practice after. Mako likes to read. I just guess I never really--”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Opal flushed red, again. “--I’m so sorry- I keep doing this--”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“--Really, it’s fine,” Bolin waved his hands up, trying to dissuade her. “It’s not your fault I’m a slow reader.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Opal opened her mouth, before stopping what she was going to say and took the book from his hands. “We could read it together? Like, I could read it aloud. But only if you want to. We could just stop the whole reading thing, actually--”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Bolin grinned. “That sounds great.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Opal picked up the book, and began to read aloud. They pressed themselves closer to each other so Bolin could follow the words, though his eyes kept drifting from the pages to Opal herself.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Opal met his eyes, and she smiled gently, her gaze bashful as she stumbled over the words. Bolin smiled back, grin ear to ear, before his eyes returned to the pages as she continued, her gentle voice lifting the words of the pages.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>This was definitely something that Bolin was going to keep.</p>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><div class="children module" id="children">
  <b class="heading">Works inspired by this one:</b>
  <ul>
    <li>
        A [Restricted Work] by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/klainelynch/pseuds/klainelynch">klainelynch</a>
 Log in to view.
    </li>
  </ul>
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